Weird Wednesday

Why were there so many weird painters from Belgium (cf James Ensor and Felicien Rops)? Is it because Belgium is so boring it sent them mad? Here are a few items by Antione Wiertz (1806-1865), whose stuff was considered so shocking that it was hidden away in a private gallery in Brussels from which sensitive maids and striplings were excluded. I believe the same gallery now constitutes the Musee Antione Wiertz.

The top two are details of Wiertz's astonishing triptych 'Last Thoughts and Visions of a Decapitated Head'; the one below a separate (if you'll pardon the pun) 'Guillotined Head'; and finally his famous image of 'Premature Burial'. Gothic painter par excellence was weird Wiertz.